This invention relates to a holding member which is configured to form a cable connector.
When a connector is connected to a cable, the cable is sometimes required to extend from the connector in a direction different from a mating direction along which the connector is mated with a mating connector. For example, a connector which has a structure satisfying such a requirement is disclosed in JP 2015-88256A (Patent Document 1), the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Referring to FIG. 14, Patent Document 1 discloses a connector unit (first connector unit) 90 which comprises contacts 910, a connector housing (housing) 920 and a cable-protection-and-regulation cover (cover) 940. The housing 920 holds the contacts 910. The contacts 910 are connected to cables 930, respectively. The cover 940 defines an extending direction along which each of the cables 930 starts to extend from the connector 90. The housing 920 has a rectangular column shape which has a longitudinal direction in a front-rear direction. The housing 920 has four corners located at an end thereof in the longitudinal direction. Each of the four corners is provided with a connector-side lock projection (lock projection) 922 which projects outward from an outer surface of the housing 920 (FIG. 14 shows three of the lock projections 922). The lock projections 922 are located in four-fold rotational symmetry with respect to an axis AX extending along the front-rear direction. The cover 940 has a rectangular tube shape with bottom. The cover 940 has opposite sidewalls each of which is formed with a cable passage opening (opening) 942. In addition, the cover 940 has four inside corners each of which is provided with a cover-side lock projection (lock projection) 944 (FIG. 14 shows one of the lock projections 944). The lock projections 944 are located in four-fold rotational symmetry with respect to the axis AX and correspond to the lock projections 922, respectively. When the cover 940 is attached to the housing 920, the lock projections 944 are moved forward, surmount the lock projections 922 from behind, respectively, and are engaged with the lock projections 922, respectively. The cover 940 is attachable to the housing 920 even under a state where the cover 940 is rotated by ninety degrees about the axis AX. This rotation of the cover 940 changes a facing direction of each of the openings 942, so that the extending direction of each of the cables 930 can be changed.
Referring to FIG. 15, Patent Document 1 discloses another connector unit (second connector unit) 95 which comprises a connector housing (housing) 950 and a cable-protection-and-regulation cover (cover) 960. The housing 950 has a cylindrically shaped cable extending end (end) 952, and the cover 960 has a cylindrically shaped open end (end) 962. In addition, the cover 960 is provided with a pair of cable passage openings (openings) 964. The end 952 of the housing 950 has an outer surface which is formed with connector-side lock depressions (lock depressions) 954 which are located at regular intervals in a circumference direction of an axis AX. The end 962 of the cover 960 has an inner surface which is formed with cover-side lock projections (lock projections) 964 which are located at regular intervals in the circumference direction of the axis AX. The lock projections 964 are provided at positions corresponding to those of the lock depressions 954, respectively. When the cover 960 is attached to the housing 950, the lock projections 964 are fit into the lock depressions 954, respectively. In the attachment process of the cover 960 to the housing 950, the cover 960 can be attached to the housing 950 even under a state where the cover 960 is rotated by a predetermined angle about the axis AX. This rotation of the cover 960 changes a facing direction of each of the openings 964 relative to the housing 950, so that an extending direction of a cable (not shown) can be changed.
According to the first connector unit 90 disclosed in Patent Document 1, the extending direction of each of the cables 930 can be changed only by integer times of ninety degrees. In contrast, according to the second connector unit 95 disclosed in Patent Document 1, the extending direction of the cable can be changed by the predetermined angle which is smaller than ninety degrees. However, the second connector unit 95 is degraded in comparison with the first connector unit 90 in ability of maintaining an attached state where the cover 960 is attached to the housing 950.